Chennai, April 9:  DefExpo 2018 will begin from April 11 to April 14 at Thiruvidanthai on the East Coast Road (ECR) near Chennai. India will showcase its defence production capability to the world. The main aim of this exhibition is to attract global vendors of military products. The Ministry of Defence is also promoting Indian players into defence manufacturing to make India self-reliable in the sector. This strategy will be reflected in the upcoming DefExpo.

Ajay Kumar, secretary, Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India said, “We want to show case India as emerging hub for manufacturing as the country attained significant milestones in defence manufacturing. We also need to create opportunity for exports from India,” reported Business Standard. The DefExpo is organised after every two years. The eight edition DefExpo was organized in February 2014 in New Delhi, then in 2016. It was organized in Goa and Now it is being shifted to Chennai for the first time.

More than 700 exhibitors will be participating in the exhibition. It is expected that 539 Indian firms will participate in the expo whereas 163 foreign players will be a part of this mega event. According to Kumar, more than 72% of the space is allocated for Indian firms. The DefExpo held in 2016 witnessed the participation of 1000 companies.

Tata, L&T, Kalyani, Defence and Research Analysis Department (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Mahindra are some of the major Indian companies which are to be a part of this event. Giving a major boost to indigenous defence production Ministry of defence will launch Innovations for Defence Excellence (IDEX) scheme at the Expo, reported Business Standard. According to officials over 70 indigenously built products will be displayed at the Indian Pavilion. These products will be displayed under the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus, Rafael, United Shipping are some the foreign players which are to be a part of this exhibition. India will display its indigenous built aircraft Tejas, Missile systems, helicopters and air defence systems. This DefExpo will showcase India’s capability in land, air and naval security and will attract foreign players to invest in defence sector in collaboration of Indian firms. India is the world's largest arms importer. The Defence Ministry said that Indian firms manufactured Rs 550 billion worth military equipment in the last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are expected to be present at inauguration of DefExpo 2018. The 100 K9 VAJRA-T, self-propelled artillery guns for the Indian Army will be displayed at the India Pavilion of DefExpo 2018. The K9 Vajra T is customised and co-developed by L&T and South Korean technology. It is an enhanced version of HTW’s K9 Thunder. L&T in May had received a contract for supplying 100 units of 155mm/52 calibre self propelled gun system to suit requirements of the indian Army.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 09, 2018 03:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).